21 years and still going...

21 years ago I threw a leg over a Marin Pine Mountain and raced at Grant Ranch in San Jose, CA. A couple of hours later, I finished...all I remember was being last in the beginner class, but I still got a medal...sweet. Very soon thereafter, I bought a Cannondale frame with a rigid "pepperoni" front fork and built it up piece by piece, rode it twice (one time taking a horrendous crash), and then it got stolen.

The insurance claim landed me what I consider to be my first "real" race bike...a Bridgstone MB-O (zip). Mavic cranks and hubs...Ritchey rims, stem, tires and seatpost...and a suede covered turbo saddle that, to this day, is the most comfy thing I have ever ridden. The 4 lb. steel frame (Ritchey tubing) was ultra light at the time, but the head tube did not stand up very well to the first Rock Shox when they came out. I wish I could find my picture of me in mid-air doing the Kamikaze at Mammoth on this bike...the blonde locks of my mullet blowing in the wind. Ah, those were the days. Perhaps the mullet will make a comeback...or not.

I rode in the early 90's for Team Pinnacle out of Los Gatos, CA, then moved on to our arch rival's team (Britton Bike Shop) when Pinnacle folded. For a number of years, I rode unattached and not very seriously, trying my hand at off-rode triathlons and bi/duathlons. Then, in 1998 I think it was, I met up with my buddy Brent (the former owner of Pinnacle) who was working for Phil Wood at Sea Otter. I was racing single-speed for the first time... and go figure, Phil Wood had just come out with a single speed to show off their beautiful SS hubs. Until 2002, I raced for Phil Wood very seriously, picking up a national title in 2001 at Big Bear. The highlight for me was the 3-hour SS worlds in Downieville in 2002. Amazingly hard course with world-class competition...Travis Brown won and I was the first non-pro racer coming in about 8 minutes later in 5th place. That was something to be proud of.

After taking a couple of years easy, during which my son and daughter were born, I returned to racing as a 35-year old on Sierra Express Racing Team. Over the past 5 years, I have raced at the local and national levels. I have tweaked my training and had God-knows-how-many bikes. In 2008, I raced for an amazing Sho-Air team in Southern California along with Johnny O'Mara, Ty Kady, and a host of other great riders. What a blast!! Scott Tedro really made that year a great one for us all, and continues to promote mountain biking around the country...props to Scott!!

In the last few months, I have changed my philosophy a bit on mountain biking in general. After talking to my buddy Jason Moeschler, I realized that I was missing some of the fun of mountain biking. This year, I am focusing on some really fun races, and am giving the National Championships one more shot at the 40+ level. I have never raced in Colorado, and would like to do that at least once before I back off of my training. Having re-married, I now have 3 kids. At 7, 6, and 5 years old, they need their dad more than I need to be racing and training so much.

So, with this one last year of hardcore training and racing, I am blogging...something I have never done before. I will be discussing my thoughts on workouts, training methods, nutrition, and just having fun with the sport I love.

Cheers,

Chuck